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Steeler fans consistently undervalue Foote. He is smart and usually in position to make a play. Won't make the highlight reel with jawbreaking tackles but knows the defense well and gets them to play together.
More than adequate replacement for Farrior. Consider:

I don't get all the hate for Foote on this board. It was just the same hate for Farrior before he retired. Foote arguably had his best year last year on a great defense, and he's the weak link? Gimme a break, he leads the team with 113 tackles and has a career best 4 sacks.

The guy is NEVER HURT, never complains, and has played solid his entire career with the Steelers. You know what you are getting with Foote. Now, him NOT being signed would be a surprise to me.

Sometimes I have to shake my head on the hate for Foote (and Farrior in his last two years) on this board. Are we watching the same players here?

Don't you know that you are either a superstar of dogcrap in the eyes of Steeler fans. A lot of them don't recognize solid football players. Farrior got beat by Ray Rice on a key 4th down play and from then on he was useless according to many fans. Many here didn't like the job Ryan Clark was doing until last year when he took over Troy's position for 6 or 7 games and he made big hits and some splash plays. Then, and only then, did Clark start getting some respect.

Foote is one of those glue type players who help hold the team together. He is a good solid player and he won't be as easy to replace as some think.

to put that in perspective, Rey Maualuga had 122... you can't just use numbers... My problem with the LBs is that the team doesn't have a run-stuffer any more.

On Farrior's last season, NorthCoast, he didn't play 16. Those stats are Apples and Oranges...

Foote is "solid". I expect excellence from the LBs. Just one man's opionion.

While you might "expect" excellence you can't afford excellence. It just isn't possible to pay 4 excellent linebackers and still field a competitive team. Almost all teams have their share of superstars but the teams that win consistently are the ones that field more "solid" players than weak ones.

The Steelers went 8-8 last season, but four of those eight losses were by a field goal. And that has Steelers linebacker Larry Foote thinking about what might have been.

Foote told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he thinks the Steelers were good enough to be a 12-4 team because those close losses were games they should have won.

“Four games we should have won. Do that, and we’re 12-4, but that’s how the league goes,” Foote said. “The year before, we made the playoffs and we could have lost four games. The bottom line is we lost some games that we should have won and we didn’t.”

Of course, every team in the NFL that missed the playoffs last year could look back at a few close losses and say those were games they should have won. And the Steelers also could have lost most of the games they won: Five of their eight wins were by seven points or less.

Ultimately, however many games the Steelers “should have won,” eight is the number they did win. And that’s what matters.

While you might "expect" excellence you can't afford excellence. It just isn't possible to pay 4 excellent linebackers and still field a competitive team. Almost all teams have their share of superstars but the teams that win consistently are the ones that field more "solid" players than weak ones.